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Korea detected the first two cases of the new Delta Plus COVID-19 variant on Tuesday.
South Korea has seen a sharp rise in its coronavirus cases as it struggles to bring its fourth wave of infections under control amid the spread of new strains of coronavirus variants.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 1,725 cases for Tuesday, up more than 500 from the previous day as more tests were carried out after the weekend.
The total number of infections rose to 203,926, with 2,106 deaths.
On Tuesday, the KDCA said it had detected the first two cases of the new Delta Plus COVID-19 variant in South Korea, a subline of the Delta variant first identified in India.
The daily tally hit a new high of 1,895 last week, in part fueled by the more contagious Delta variant, with the fourth COVID-19 wave showing little sign of abating.
Health officials feared people traveled about 6.4% more last week compared to the previous week – about 34% more than in early January, in areas beyond the capital Seoul and its neighboring areas – mainly for summer vacation.
“Movements in these areas have increased for three consecutive weeks,” senior health official Lee Gi-il told a briefing.
“There is fatigue from the long periods of separation, and it is a summer vacation season.”
The government tightened social distancing restrictions last week across most of the country for two weeks before the peak summer vacation period.
New variant
The Delta Plus variant is a subline of the Delta variant first identified in India and acquired the spike protein mutation called K417N, which is also found in the beta variant first identified in South Africa .
So far, only a handful of countries, including the UK, Portugal and India, have reported Delta Plus cases.
Delta Plus is still under investigation, but some scientists have said it may be more transmissible.
Health officials have said that several major vaccines work against the Delta variant.
Some 39.3% of South Korea’s 52 million people received at least one injection on Wednesday, while 14.2% were fully immunized, according to KDCA data.
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